Secretary of the Navy John D. Long to Naval Attachés, Lieutenant John C. Colwell and Lieutenant William S. Sims
Cablegram.
Partly in cipher [Washington], April 26, 1898.
Alusna,1 London.)
)
Alusna, Paris.
Make every effort to obtain reliable information movements Spanish fleet at Cadiz, Spain.2 ….expenditures for this authorized….. to Colwell.
Long.
Copies sent to:
Assistant Secretary.3
Bureau of Navigation.4
Source Note: CCDecy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 464.
Footnote 1: “Alusna” is the acronym for American Legation United States Naval Attaché.
Footnote 2: . On 8 April, the Spanish fleet, under the command of RAdm. PascualCervera y Topete, set sail for the Cape Verde Islands, arrived six days later, and then left for the West Indies on 29 April. This letter was written on 26 April, and suggests that American naval intelligence thought that Cervera’s fleet was still at Cadiz.
Footnote 3: Theodore Roosevelt.
Footnote 4: The Chief of the Bureau of Navigation was Commo. Arent S. Crowninshield.
